kailyaird

Du Fu: "Hairst-time Quicknin" Brian Holton reads his own Scots translation of the first poem in Du Fu's famous sequence, one of his masterpieces, the Chinese title being Qiu Xing. BH is known for being the English voice of Chinese poet Yang Lian. His Scots translations aim to lead the reader into both the extreme strangeness of the Tang culture Du Fu inhabited and the familiar humanity of Du Fu's voice, by employing the distancing effect of written Scots and its powerful intimacy, echoing with the voices of Burns and Dunbar, the vanished world of the classic ballads, and the stories of the fireside. HAIRST-TIME QUICKNIN 1 Nithert bi the dews o the hairst time, the maple shaws is dwynin; on the Carlin Hills an Carlin's Cleuch the air's caller an cauld. The Lang Watter's gowstie jows are lowpin e'en ti the lift, an outowre the border the derk-like yird convoys the drumlie clouds. Chrysanths - twice ti ma ee they bring tears for ither days. Yon coble tethert its leesome lane, it's me ettlin for ma kailyaird. The winter duds is out in ilka airt, an fowk eidently cloutin them: hie abune White Imperatour toun, claes-bittles thrang in the gloamin.